I live in Springfield, Illinois. A week and a half ago we got hit with a tornado. My damages were limited, but one of the things I suffered was a flooded basement because of a power outage which caused my sump pump to not function. Truth be told I probably would have gotten some seepage even without the loss of power, which leads me to my question.
I was watching TOH last night. Tommy Silva helped a lady out that had some water in her basement. He augmented an existing drain system by installing a sump pump. The sump pump well he used was made of plastic and appeared to be about three feet tall. After he jacked hammered the hole in the concrete and dug out the hole for the pit, he cut the bottom off the plastic well and put some type of mess under the open hole to keep dirt and silt from clogging the sump pump. He then put some grave in the pit until he had it to a satisfactory height to set the pump upon.
My sump pump was retrofitted into the house before I purchased it. It does not tie into any type of drain system. The pit is ceramic and about two feet deep with a solid bottom. Holes were either predrilled or drilled into the side walls of the pit at installation. Water comes through these holes, the pit fills up and the pump kicks on, providing I have power. Dispite the pump being installed I still get some seepage. I suspect this is because of a lack of perimeter drain. I know I may have to put a drain in, but I was wonder if I would increase my pumps efficiency if I replaced the existing pit with something like Tommy put in. I am thinking the extra depth may draw more water to the pump and lessen the seepage.
I assume were Tommy installed the sump pump was in New England. I don't know what the soil is like there, but at that depth in my area I would run into fairly densely compacted clay. So I am wondering if the extra depth may not be of much benefit.
What are your thoughts? Thanks.
I was watching TOH last night. Tommy Silva helped a lady out that had some water in her basement. He augmented an existing drain system by installing a sump pump. The sump pump well he used was made of plastic and appeared to be about three feet tall. After he jacked hammered the hole in the concrete and dug out the hole for the pit, he cut the bottom off the plastic well and put some type of mess under the open hole to keep dirt and silt from clogging the sump pump. He then put some grave in the pit until he had it to a satisfactory height to set the pump upon.
My sump pump was retrofitted into the house before I purchased it. It does not tie into any type of drain system. The pit is ceramic and about two feet deep with a solid bottom. Holes were either predrilled or drilled into the side walls of the pit at installation. Water comes through these holes, the pit fills up and the pump kicks on, providing I have power. Dispite the pump being installed I still get some seepage. I suspect this is because of a lack of perimeter drain. I know I may have to put a drain in, but I was wonder if I would increase my pumps efficiency if I replaced the existing pit with something like Tommy put in. I am thinking the extra depth may draw more water to the pump and lessen the seepage.
I assume were Tommy installed the sump pump was in New England. I don't know what the soil is like there, but at that depth in my area I would run into fairly densely compacted clay. So I am wondering if the extra depth may not be of much benefit.
What are your thoughts? Thanks.
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